The Tritt property is now 53.7 acres, but it was once 80 acres, all of Land Lots 965 and 966 in the 16th District of Cobb County. When Norris Tritt, the late husband of the current owner, Wylene Tritt, inherited the land in 1948 from his aunt, Odessa Tritt Lassiter, it was still 80 acres. By 1965, the Tritts had sold all the land west of Sewell Mill Creek (called Little Williow [Willeo] Creek in the 1869 map, above). Norris sold some of his land to the Bowles family, who in turn sold their land to the Friends for East Cobb Park in 2001; this was the first 13 acres of the park.
Today, almost all of the land west of the creek that was sold by the Tritts is part of East Cobb Park, except for a 1.5 acre parcel that is part of Fullers Park, and a 6 acre parcel which was developed into the Manor Oaks subdivision. So, of the 80 acres inherited by Norris Tritt in 1948, only 6 acres have ever been substantially developed. That leaves 74 acres! We hope to see the Tritt land remain undeveloped, as park or green space!
The history of the Tritt land goes back much further. In 1832, Georgia held the Gold Lottery, to give away several thousand parcels of 40 acres each. The Cherokees had recently been forced from the area (the Trail of Tears), and there was the belief that much of their former land had gold, including the present area of East Cobb. There was so much demand for the gold land, that the state divided the area into 40 acre parcels (called Land Lots), rather than the usual 160 acre parcels. I do not currently know who won Land Lots 965 & 966 in the 1832 lottery. The Land Lot system is still used today to describe land in Cobb County.
Also, in 1832 Cobb County was formed from the former Cherokee land. We don't know the earliest history of the current Tritt land, because the Union army burned the Cobb courthouse, along with most records, in 1864, during the Civil War. However, we know from available tax lists that Jackson Delk (1814-1897) owned the land by at least 1864.
Jackson Delk was the brother of Emily Delk (1823-1891), who was the wife of William Tritt (1820-1906), and these were the great-grandparents of Norris Tritt; in fact, William Tritt and Emily Delk are the ancestors of all the Tritt family in Cobb County. Jackson Delk owned the land until his death in 1897, and then it was inherited by his son John Delk, who moved to Texas and sold the land to his brother Robert Delk in 1907. Robert Delk in turn sold the land to his first cousin David Tritt in 1916. David Tritt sold the land in 1917 to his niece, Odessa Tritt Lassiter, who owned the land until her death in 1948.
Odessa was the widow of Henry Lassiter, and had no children, so in her will she gave her property to her nephews, Norris and James Tritt. Norris Tritt received his aunt's 80 acres on Roswell Rd, while James Tritt, father of country music singer Travis Tritt, got 120 acres on Post Oak Tritt Rd, where the Lost Forest subdivision is located today.
So, the land has been in the Delk and Tritt families, who were closely related, for a very long time. We would like to see the land become a new park called Tritt Park (or the Tritt Green Space Area of East Cobb Park) in honor of Norris and Wylene Tritt.